At some point in your career, it’s no longer about developing your know-how and skills, it’s all about developing YOURSELF.
Who do you need to BE in order to be successful at what you do?
Gallup interviewed 4,000 entrepreneurs to discover what personal characteristics determined their business success.
They found that business owners with these top 10 traits were three times more likely to create successful companies and grow them:
- Business Focus
- Confidence
- Creative Thinking
- Delegating
- Determination
- Independence
- Knowledge-Seeking
- Promoting
- Relationship Building
- Risk taking
It’s easy to say: “If I only had these qualities, I’d be successful too”. The truth is that it is rare that any of these successful entrepreneurs was born with all of these talents. While some of these traits emerged early and could be considered ‘innate talent’, for most of these entrepreneurs, these traits have been actively DEVELOPED.
How will you actively DEVELOP yourself?
The key first step is to become AWARE of what POWERS you already have. Which of these 10 traits feel so ‘effortless’ that you don’t even recognise them as your core strength? It's often what other people see in you, it’s what you’re known for, what people admire in you.
The trickier question is: Which qualities in this list do you feel less comfortable with? Which are the ones you may be avoiding or rationalising away as ‘being less important to you’. In reality, you know that having that trait would make ALL the difference for you, but FEAR of admitting you might need some help, keeps you from doing something about it.
The following questions related to each of the 10 Success Traits will help you see where you stand on these qualities.
1. Business Focus
• What has been your revenue/profit/income over the last 2 years? What made it go up or down?
2. Confidence
• Consider your performances from the past; When did you feel super confident, knowing you could handle anything and allowed results to just occur?
• How easily can you tap into that confidence at any given moment?
3. Creative Thinking
• How excited and engaged are you when creating new ways of doing things/finding new solutions/coming up with ‘extraordinary’ ideas?
4. Delegating
• How clear are you about which activities ‘only you can do’? How easily can you leave the activities that you need to stop doing to others?
5. Determination
• What goals are you willing to commit to, knowing you’d have to sacrifice things to achieve them?
6. Independence
• How did you come to do what you do now?
• What are the problems you are really trying to solve by doing the work you do?
• How do you measure the vitality of your business or your career?
7. Seeking Knowledge
• What external sources of information do you use that help your business and make it successful?
8. Being a good spokesperson
• How comfortable are you promoting yourself and your business achievements?
9. Relationship Building
• How do you make sure you build and maintain healthy relationships that support your growth and development?
10. Risk taking
• What opportunities have been presented to you that you passed up because of fear?
• Think of a situation in which you’re reluctant to make a change or move forward: what’s the scenario you have created that is holding you back? What are the chances of that scenario happening?
Now review your answers:
• Which questions did you find were most difficult to answer?
• What are your answers telling you?
You may find you already have a nice mix of these qualities and that means you and your business are thriving – that’s great!
If you don’t feel as comfortable in some areas as you would like, how can investing in your Personal Development increase your chances of business success?
